What comes with the battle
by Jason Layton
Summary: Starts during season 1 ep 1 Study in Pink, John goes back to his room to get his gun, and finds someone waiting for him. Pls Review! Waiting till new series before updating xxx
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody, sadly I don't own Sherlock otherwise I would have written all 70 cases up and got Benedict and Martin to act them all just for me! lol**

**Pls review, this it was my dream from last night! **

**Love and virtual cupcakes for all**

**Jasxx**

* * *

John had meant to run up to his room, grab his browning and an overnight bag, then hurry back to 221b, and that impossible man. He'd told the strange mans assistant he was just going to get a few things, although he had his suspicions she knew exactly what he was doing. His heart was beating hard against his ribs, but his hands were steady as he walked through the darkened room, and took his gun from the desk draw.

"Captain Watson?" A voice out of the darkness called, John span around, leveling his gun towards the voice. Sitting cross-legged on his bed was a teenage girl, John stared at her, the girl couldn't have been more than 15, with long red hair wearing and an expression of pure innocence. Despite himself John lowered his gun, and cocked his head at her enquiringly.

"Who the devil are you?" he asked slowly

"Close" she pouted then laughed, not making any effort to move, "You've decided to join the war, and that's going to make so many people, so happy!" She laughed again, and John decided enough was enough. He went to pull her off his bed, but his hand went straight through the girl's wrist.

"What? Who are you? Why are you here?" he shouted his hand tingling with cold.

"Oh you know exactly what I am John, you've seen enough battles" she floated up slightly off his bed, and stretched out a hand to him, as he looked the small childlike hand stretched out became more like a claw and started reaching towards him.

"STOP" he ordered, and the claw retreated and became a young girls hand again, "I get it you're a battle sprite" he ran a hand through his hair, "why are you here?"

"Oh, John, I'm not any battle sprite, I'm a bound sprite, my services are given to one practitioner, and he has sent me, as a gift to you, as another." She stood up from the bed, and with a flick of her wrist produced a small rucksack, packed with some essentials for John.

"I'm not a 'practitioner' I've not…. not for ages, I've avoided, that since I went to… to the war." He stumbled, resting on the edge of the desk.

"Magic saved your life in Afghanistan, magic dragged you back here, you may not wish to use your gifts, but you are still ingrained with the power. Your presence has been noted, your involvement in this war has been spotted, and your retrieval of that weapon has been seen as your acceptance of the rules of engagement. My keeper would like to help you in any way he can, and so he's sent me as a welcome to London gift." She handed him the bag, shook all over for a moment, then stretched. As John watched the pretty and precocious child of a moment before shrink to a small furry winged demon, with large teeth and claws. "I will be following you, if you need me call me. I'm Keridwyn, by the way." With that, and with a stretch of her wings, she vanished.

John was left alone with his thoughts, his day was getting stranger and stranger. He had dabbled in the dark arts all his life, his Grandmother being a sorceress. However it wasn't something he advertised, and after Afghanistan he'd decided he would never use magic again. Now some Prospero and given him use of his Ariel, a strange man had kidnapped him and offered him money to be a spy, a stranger man had decided to move in with him, and he had been to the scene of a serial killers latest victim.

* * *

John was standing across the courtyard banging on the window, screaming Sherlock's name for all he was worth. He was going to take the poison, John didn't know why but he could see the vial in Sherlock's shaking hands, and that impossible man was going to take the bloody poison.

"I'd shoot the cabby if I were you" Keridwyn whispered in his ear, placing the Browning in Johns unresisting hand. "The magic currently crackling off you could power the national grid, if you don't shoot him, some of my fellow demons will be driven so mad by your stress, they'll just blow the whole area up." She was laughing again, flicking between her teenage girl look, and her demon look like a bad TV reception. John could feel the static he was producing, feel the fear for Sherlock, found the gun in his hand, and with the steady hand of the soldier, he shot through the window, he shot the cabby.

His body slumped physically, and the static left the room the moment the gun was fired. He felt Keridwyn's claws clamp over his wrist, and she dragged him out of the building. He was vaguely aware of police and cars, but they didn't seem to notice him or the creature dragging him behind her. Using her teenage disguise she bundled him into a taxi, and ordered the driver to take them back to the college. They arrived to see Sherlock being bundled into the back of an ambulance, and as John went and spoke to Sally Donovan, Keridwyn squeezed his hand briefly.

"I will be following you, if you need me call me."

* * *

**My wife Lucy is a great one for welsh folk stories, she would know more than me but Keridwyn is the crone in Celtic legends, she had a cauldron that could restore a man back to life. A wizard drank from her cauldron, so she ate him and gave birth to the bard Talisan. I was dreaming of John in the Cauldron in Afghanistan, then the idea that the battle sprites following the soldiers over there might just as well have their work cut out over Sherlock and Mycrofts battlefield. Then stealing the prompt from loads of you who have made John a witch or a mage, what if he became Prospero, from the Tempest, to his own Ariel. Although I think Sherlock would work that out fairly quickly. My niece who is 5 doesn't like the picture of battle sprites over waterloo that hangs on my mother in laws walls, she thinks they look like little girls, quite rightly she believes battle sprites would be more practical if they looked like the flying monkeys from the wizard of oz.**


	2. Chapter 2

There are a number of things to remember when you start to use magic on a daily basis. The first is that magic is like electricity it can be harnessed, it has a myriad of uses, but one day when your not looking when your tired when you just don't think, your going to get a shock.

The next thing to remember is that for every person who uses magic successfully, who can limit the amount they use; there are hundreds of teenagers dabbling with things they just don't understand.

John's grandmother had one final piece of advice for him, years before. Of all the practitioners in magic, the sensible homely witches, the powerful sorcerers and the lazy accultists, there is only one kind of idiot who would ever experiment with the magical dead, and that's why you don't find many living necromancers.

These things were running through his head in the weeks after moving in with Sherlock Holmes. They worked together, the lived together, they ate (when Sherlock ate) together, John would even call them friends, but he had decided he could never tell the man about the magical world. This however was getting harder and harder with the deductive genius, constantly monitoring John like he was one of his experiments. During the last few weeks and especially during the case John liked to call 'The Blind Banker' Keridwyn had become his shadow. She was normally good at hiding, John had discovered, disappearing seemingly at will, she was also very good at keeping quiet when John needed her too, and despite the odd circumstances she never balked at any request he put to her. However in Johns head it was only a matter of time before his flatmate discovered her. To make matters worse when Sarah had visited him in hospital after the madness at the Swimming Pool, she had walked in on a corporeal Keridwyn sitting on his bed, checking his pulse. Luckily she had been in her teenage girl guise and had introduced herself as his cousin. Sarah had been charmed by the precocious teen and some quick lies had created a story of truancy and an unhappy home life. However Sherlock knew John didn't have an extended family, and he was dreading Sarah bringing his cousin up in conversation.

Sherlock of course had a lot to thank the sprite for, she had chased off his would be assassin in Soo Lin's flat, waiting until the detective had started losing conciseness, before using her true demon form to scare the man out of the building. She had created a balloon of air that had kept him and John underwater while the swimming pool had collapsed around them, and when the two men had passed out, dragged them to safety. However John was convinced if Sherlock knew of her existence it wouldn't be long before parts of her body ended up in their fridge and microwave. John also didn't think Sherlock would let him be, if he found out that John however unwillingly was in possession of enough magical power to control a Sprite. So when John came home from work, carrying two heavy shopping bags the last thing he'd wanted to see was Keridwyn in her demon form patrolling the street outside 221b, like the worlds ugliest guard dog.

"Keridwyn?" John had hissed

"I'm sorry John, but I've done something really bad" she looked down and dug at the concrete with her claws, he looked up and down the street "it's okay only you can see me" she explained.

John opened the door, and ushered her in, however she sat on the hallway rug and refused to go any further.

"What have you done?" he hissed as she shook her head and refused to move from the mat.

"I was asleep in your room, and well your friend walked in on me, so I ran, and waited for you to come home, sorry"

"How were you dressed?" he asked cautiously

"I wasn't?" she asked back, cocking her head

"Sorry no I meant, what did he see you as?"

"Oh, human"

Great thought John, he didn't know what would have been worse, Sherlock finding a tiny winged demon in his room, or him finding a naked underage girl asleep on his bed.

John rationalized his next steps he hadn't been arrested at work, so Sherlock hadn't done the normal thing of phoning the police. However Sherlock liked to ask perps their motives so maybe he was upstairs waiting for John to explain. Even Sherlock couldn't read the age difference between 15 and 16, so he could just front it out, nothing illegal, possibly a bit dirty but Sherlock was junkie how critical could he possibly be. However John was a good man, he liked Sherlock; he didn't want him thinking he was scum like that. He told Keridwyn to become corporeal, human and after a false start clothed. He was going to face this head on he decided, and if he could get away without mentioning the magic world all the better.

"Sherlock?" John called trying to keep his voice reasonable and measured as he walked into the living room. His flatmate was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed; his right hand cupped over his left arm under the elbow, John briefly counted four nicotine patches.

"John" Sherlock acknowledged, "nice to meet you again Miss" he countered to Keridwyn. John started to speak but Sherlock sat up and interrupted him. "If you don't want to tell me John you don't have too, I trust I'm good enough at my job to know that anything you said would be a lie. I trust you John, it's just a shame you don't trust me." He stood up and walked to his bedroom slamming the door, and leaving John and Keridwyn alone.

"That could have be worse," she said.


	3. Chapter 3

**_All property is theft!_**

**_Sherlock had to find out, also the beginning is from one of the Jeremy Brett progs, but I can't remember which case._**

**_Pls review_**

**_Jasxx_**

It was dark and cold in the flat; Sherlock had all the lights off and the windows open. He was huddled in his chair, opposite the fire, his face a picture of calm misery. John had left the flat 6 hours earlier, informing Sherlock he intended to spend the night with Sarah. Sherlock had been bored, and the case he was working on involved a girl frozen to death in her own home, so he'd decided he needed to be cold. Very cold. Previously when high on cocaine he had opened all the windows of his room at The Montague, so he could hear The British Museum sleep. Now he recreated those nights, just for his own amusement, although sadly without the cocaine, not only would John be very disappointed but also for his experiment he had to be sober.

The fevered hammering on his door woke him from his self-absorption, the door unusual had been locked, because whenever Mrs Hudson found him alone experimenting she would fuss, and tonight he couldn't afford to be fussed over. Sherlock ignored the hammering for a few moments, then as it continued, stretched himself and bounded to the door. He threw it open in a dramatic flourish and saw John's young companion of a few nights previously in a state of flushed excitement.

"Mr Holmes I need your help" she panted, though Sherlock's cool eye took in her whole body, she wasn't out of breath, this was an act. "John is in the most awful trouble, he's screaming for you, you have to help."

"What do want me to do?" he asked calm as usual, he knew this girl was acting, he didn't know why, however her eyes were straight and darting so she was genuinely worried, Sherlock's brain started to rebel against it's own conclusions.

"He and Sarah were walking through the park when a black car pulled up dragged them inside and drove off, I'm afraid I lost the car on the Chiswick High Road, please Mr Holmes we must hurry". She grabbed his hand, and tried to pull him out of the door but he stopped her. Her tiny hands were ice cold, but she wasn't dressed for the cold, wearing a loose smock dress, and no coat. She was wearing black Doc Martin Boots, but they had no mud on them despite the cold wet night, and her insistence she had been in Hyde Park.

"I need to know about you, before I go anywhere" Sherlock drawled

"Mr Holmes, please I will answer your questions but let us first find a cab" she begged. Sherlock shrugged, and followed her downstairs.

"I think we should go back to Turnham Green, Mr Holmes. We might be able to work out where they were going from there." He nodded and the cab driver pulled away.

"Go on then, this is your role, my name is Keridwyn, but the rest I think you should try and deduce" she turned to him with a smile.

"Your English is good but you falter over certain words, suggesting it's not your first language. Your name is Celtic, and by the way you use it, it's your real name, so I'd suggest you were Welsh, except that your accent is gentler than the North Welsh I would expect so possibly Patagonian?" She laughed and shook her head "I'm wrong but I'm very close but missing something, so I'll move on. You're following John around, and he knows it." He stopped and grabbed her wrist "Whom are you working for?" he shouted

"John!" she replied exasperated

"John couldn't afford someone to work for him." He stated simply, Keridwyn shook her head.

"My owner has leant me to him for as long as he needs me" she clarified

"Your owner? You're a slave?" she nodded sadly "Your very young, and pretty and obviously not ashamed of your body, but John hasn't been given you for sex." She laughed and nodded

"UST?" she asked Sherlock smirked and continued.

"We obviously both suffer from Dr Sawyers unfortunate ability to keep her legs closed. So you must have something else you can do for him. You've been following him since the first night he moved in with me, don't look surprised I'm very observant. I've also noticed he's quite secretive over his past before the army, so I think whoever your employer is he has something to do with that." She laughed and nodded. "You look about 15, but your clearly not adverse to running around central London at night, and a little too comfortable in your own skin, so you are older than you look."

"So….?" She asked

"You're a lot older than you look, you came to London about 20 years ago, with your current owner. Possibly from another country, but more likely you came here and he enslaved you. Definitely he but he doesn't use you for sex, so either he's gay or married. Your slim but healthy so I'm going to say he's widowed and his wife used to treat you like a daughter, and he's continued that relationship. He leant you to John though, so either he's desperate for John's help, or more likely he likes John and feels he can trust you with him. He trusts John, he's a soldier then, an ex-soldier living in London, and knows the life John and I have so part of London's underground community then. So you're a contact then, you connect John with the underground world, but he doesn't need you for that, I could do that. So, Oh? There's another war, another battle John thinks I don't know about." He stopped as they had arrived at Turnham Green, Sherlock paid the driver, and started walking westwards. Keridwyn hurried after him for a quarter of a mile in silence, before he stopped and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Tell me about John's magic powers." He demanded.

"Mr Holmes, I think if I did, he'd kill me."

**_The Montague is a little hotel at 15 Montague Street, 15 Montague street was Holme's address before Baker Street. When I used to live in Bloomsbury I used to walk past every day, wondering if Holmes was supposed to have lived in a suite at the hotel or if like 221b it was just a random address Doyle used. _**


	4. Chapter 4

**All Property is theft!**

**Sorry about the amount of time it has taken me to update, but Lucy came home for a few days, and I haven't had any energy for writing, lol!**

**I love Mycroft, he's just that little bit too sinister!**

They stood in the street staring at each other for a few moments, Keridwyn felt herself wilting somewhat under Holmes's gaze. The desire to vanish was burning her, however she didn't know how much he had deduced, and didn't want to give her own secret away without John's permission.

"How did you deduce about the magic?" she asked falteringly, painfully aware of his scrutiny.

"We've been walking briskly for 15 minutes, your not out of breath, your hearts not racing, in fact I'm not sure you're breathing at all, also not once during this walk have you made the sound of a footfall. You're not a ghost I can touch you, so you're something else. I am aware of the existence of a magical community in London, although I have limited experience, so I don't know what you might be, however as you're controlled by John, he must have some magical power."

She stood there dumbstruck, she'd been trying to act like a normal human for the last hour and apparently she had done a terrible job. John was going to be so angry with her, he had explained how important it was to act like a normal person in front of Sherlock Holmes, but apparently she was incapable of that. She was about to ask if he was going to experiment on her, when he looked up and past her, along the road.

"My brother is at last making his scheduled appearance, come on my dear, he doesn't like it when I keep him waiting". Sherlock starts marching smartly towards the black Mercedes limousine just pulling up to the kerb behind her. Keridwyn follows in his wake, as he walks to the door, he opens it, and allows her to slide inside, before climbing in next to her. For a second she forgets who she is, she just feels trapped. The man opposite her in the car is Mycroft Holmes, she remembers John describing him, explaining how dangerous he was, and how she must hide from him. The woman next to him is the woman John calls 'not Anthea', Keridwyn remembers that John describes her as stunning, she can see why now. Her hands are shaking for the first time in her incredibly long life she's scared.

"Sherlock" Mycroft Holmes, nodding at his brother "Miss" he adds nodding to her, "I need you to tell me everything you know about Dr Watson," he added.

"Is this to do with the kidnap?" Keridwyn asked Sherlock confused. He took her hand, and squeezed it in a way she assumed he thought would be comforting.

"I'm sure Dr Watson would be grateful if you could give us some information pertaining to why he may have been 'taken', it will of course help me to get him back to 221b much quicker." Mycroft sneered, and Keridwyn shifted uncomfortably. She had the desire to vanish again, or turn into her demon form, she didn't like this other Mr Holmes, but she had to get John back, and after all it wasn't the first time she'd supped with a devil.

"John Watson is a good man, he was a soldier and my owner likes to look after good soldiers. He's been cast into this battle and as he has a reasonable amount of power he will be useful to our cause."

"What side is that?" Mycroft asked, rather more gently this time. Keridwyn looked at him as if he was mad.

"Those of our clan, our family, against the others." She explained, "I'm assuming you know that there are more than two sides in this war? There are hundreds of factions, going back thousands of years. My owner, our family has been fighting since the demon wars. My owner likes John, he will offer him all the protection our family can give him, for your battles out in the 'real world', it is of course the dame war we are fighting ourselves. Control, and power, same war different battles."

"Mycroft and myself are on different sides" Sherlock answered her unasked question, "we understand these battles, but I need to know whose side John is on?"

"Mr Holmes" Keridwyn addressed Sherlock "you are a clever observant man, you know the answer to that. John is a trustworthy honest caring man who at this moment needs your help, wouldn't we be better looking for him, than discussing his trustworthiness?"

"Oh, we don't need to worry about that, we know exactly where Dr Watson, and Dr Sawyer are" Mycroft drawled "you see I had them kidnapped".

**TBC**

**Pls Review**


	5. Chapter 5

**All property is theft!**

**The chapter after next has a proper plot, I've been working on it all day, but I have to get there, so there will be these two setting scenes first.**

**Lucy however has gone back to work, so I should have time to work on it over the weekend.**

**Pls review**

**Love and virtual cupcakes**

**Jas xx**

The moment Mycroft stopped talking, Keridwyn started hissing. She glared at the two brothers with horrified fascination. She had seen many battlefields, many war-zones, but she had never seen anyone as calculating as the Holmes brothers. She knew she needed to find John, warn him how dangerous his friend was, and beg him to leave Baker Street before they both ended up in the fridge or microwave.

She stretched out and changed to her demon form, it was easier to escape, and frankly she didn't think it mattered anymore. Keridwyn registered the shock on the faces of the Holmes brothers, then she charged towards Mycroft, travelling straight through him, and out of the car. Her now non-corporeal self-starting the search for her master.

"Well, I'm not ashamed to admit I wasn't expecting that" Mycroft told his brother a few stunned moments later. "Would you like to take a small wager on how long it will take her to locate Dr Watson?" he asked.

"You know I don't bet Mycroft, I will however take the game for fun, what is your assumption?" Sherlock replied, fixing his brother with a lopsided grin

"Given that little display of winged power, I would make it approximately thirty minutes" Mycroft sat back pleased with his deduction.

"Personally Mycroft I would guess about 2 or 3 minutes" Sherlock corrected in a self-important tone

"Really, how did you deduce that?" Mycroft asked genuinely puzzled

"Because she dived through the notebook in your jacket pocket." Sherlock smiled.

In reality it took Keridwyn more like an hour to get to John. She had indeed dived through Mycroft's bulging jacket pocket, collecting a myriad of information in the process, including an address of a warehouse in Bermondsey that Mycroft believed Sherlock had no knowledge of. However she didn't know whether her escape was another Holmes brothers bluff to get their hands on John's magical powers. She wasn't even sure if that's why they had kidnapped John in the first place. Or whether they had done it just to find information on Sherlock's flat-mate. She had felt she needed help, but was unwilling to go to the family, who would over react. She instead found some of her fellow demons, and sprites, normally they would be unwilling to help her in any mission like this and she was pleasantly surprised so many were happy to come and help her search for her wayward master.

However when Keridwyn reached the warehouse, she realized her precaution in bringing reserves had been over kill. No guards stood over John, and Sarah was missing entirely, her master sat blindfolded and gagged, tied to a chair in the middle of the empty warehouse. Sharp magical shocks were travelling out from his chair, probing each corner of his massive cell. Keridwyn changed to her normal form, the dexterous fingers better for this work, and carefully removed the gag and blindfold.

"John, Mr Holme's brother did this to you." She informed him, carefully untying his bonds.

"I know Keri, I know, what did you tell them?" John asked wearily standing, and massaging his wrists.

Keridwyn gave him a rundown of her adventures in the last 2 hours. Causing John to chortle and the confused look on Mycroft's face as she changed. As they walked out of the warehouse, they saw Mycroft's black Mercedes, parked nearby.

"Should we just walk in the opposite direction?" Keridwyn asked.

"Bugger that, they brought us out here, they can take us home again" John snapped, marching to the car and taking his seat, followed by the angry sprite.

John and Sherlock's argument had now lasted 5 hours, when they had returned to Baker Street, John had checked on Mycroft's assertion that Sarah had been returned to her own flat, unharmed minutes after the kidnapped. She hadn't been happy with his phone call, and even less happy with the Holmes's ridiculous games, but John was assured that she was unharmed. Then he had started shouting, Keridwyn had seen no reason to vanish tonight, Sherlock knew the worse about her, and frankly it was interesting. They had covered John's trust issues, which had led to Ella and her diagnoses, and Sherlock's opinion she was an idiot. That had led to Sherlock's belief that everyone but himself was an idiot, and after a very short time his constant experiments with John's feelings. However the tempo of the argument was stilling and Keridwyn was beginning to get bored. She had been lying flat out on the sofa still in her human form. However she was uncomfortable and so decided to prowl in her demon form for a bit, she had assumed the flat-mates had been ignoring her, but as soon as she changed, Sherlock leapt a foot in the air.

"And what is she?" he yelled again, pointing at Keridwyn

"Sherlock! 'She' has a name, you've spent the day with Keri, don't be so rude" John admonished; however all he earned was the demons attempts at affection, as she rubbed against his legs in a cat like way.

"I'm a battle sprite Mr Holmes." She explained, leaping up onto the back of John's chair, practicing with the idea of being a domestic pet. Sherlock flopped down in his chair, opposite her, his argument with John forgotten.

"Explain it to me?" he asked swapping his vision between demon and master.

**OK you know where the next chapter is going now.**

**TBC**

**Loving you all**

**Jas xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hopefully this will make other chapters make sense. **

**Reviews are love, and I love you all thanks!**

**xxx**

John decided he would tell Sherlock the truth, to the best of his ability. There was never any point in lying to Sherlock Holmes and worse than that when John tried to ignore the issue, Sherlock got Mycroft to kidnap him. However John wasn't sure where to start so he sat in his chair for a long time, trying to order his thoughts. Sherlock just sat there, fingers steepled; watching his flat-mates thought processes.

"Your grandmother was a witch?" Sherlock asked, startling John from his reverie.

"Erm…no, well yes in the way you mean, but she was a sorceress" John explained "a very powerful magical practitioner, from her I get my powers." He no longer needed to ask Sherlock how he had deduced that; it was often easier that way. "We used to practice together when I was a child, Harry had no real talent, neither did my Mum, but Granny was brilliant. She fostered my powers, taught me to control them, but also told me about the wars." Sherlock sat straighter, and Keridwyn who had been curled up on Johns lap stretched out her claws, and woke herself up.

"The demon wars were tens of thousands of years ago, when magic was more freely available. They are mentioned in all cultures, the dream-time, or genesis." Keridwyn explained "The power was the real cause of the fights of course, however demons just like fighting which made matters worse. Families and factions formed, and because we have such a long life those fights are still going on. We bred with humans and we imbued our offspring with magical power. As the power dwindled down into our offspring's families we took a back seat, the families took up the fight, John carries the blood of one of these families."

"When Granny died I lost all connection with our 'family'" John took up the story, "I still practiced, it's a useful gift and I was unwilling to let my powers falter, but somehow it's not the same if you haven't another person to share it with. Then I joined the army, and Sandhurst is not the place for demonstrating a skill like mine. By my third tour in Afghanistan I barely used any magic at all, then I got shot." Involuntarily John massaged his shoulder, upsetting Keridwyn onto the floor, where she hissed like a dropped cat. Sherlock picked her up and started stroking her head, enraptured by John. " I was dying, in the middle of firefight, enemy all around, and I was aware of men falling around me. I was thinking about Granny, and I must have sent out a magical vibe. When I woke up I was in an emergency field hospital, the rest of my unit was dead, and I was told I owed my life to an orderly called Bill Murray. However I received a letter a few days later informing me that Keri's family was behind my survival and I was to contact them if I ever needed them."

"When did they contact you?" Sherlock asked, still stroking the demon's head.

"The night of the Study in Pink case, Keri came to me, and told me she was mine for the duration. She's been helping us ever since." John shrugged, but Sherlock lifted Keridwyn by the waist and studied her.

"The assassin at Soo Lin's house? The escape from the pool? That was you?" he asked her. She stretched into her human form, leaving him holding a slender girl around her hips.

"Are you not grateful, Mr Holmes?" she asked, he coughed as she removed herself from his lap.

"Sherlock, please!"

**TBC**

**Jas xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**All property is theft!**

**OK I need you to review this chapter has haunted me for 2 days!**

**Love ya all**

**Jasxx**

"Keridwyn" John yelled

The small demon leapt onto the back of his chair, materializing as if from nowhere, flapping her wings she perched carefully, looking at her master for instruction. Sherlock was leaning against the fireplace, and John was pacing the room, in what Keridwyn recognized as his working garb.

"What can I do for you John?" she asked, taking in the scene.

"I have to go to work, and Sherlock has a case, could you go with him and keep him company?"

"I'm being sublet?" she asked. Sherlock laughed

"Don't pout in Demon form Keri, it looks slightly obscene" the consulting detective admonished her. She stretched herself out into her human form, and leapt onto the cushion seat, John took this as an acceptance of his orders, and after making his excuses, left the flat leaving Keridwyn and Sherlock alone.

"Do you actually have a case or are you going to experiment on me?" Keridwyn asked concerned

"I have a case, it's right up your alley, and John won't come, come with me Keri" Sherlock begged child like.

"Okay, but if I end up in your microwave in a petri dish you will regret this." She changed into a long grey military style coat, black leggings, and baggy T-shirt and Doc Martin boots. He smiled approvingly, twisted into his own coat and scarf, and dived down the stairs. She tried to twirl herself, but it was a bit pathetic and followed him giggling.

In the taxi Sherlock showed Keridwyn the text he'd received from Lestrade earlier in the morning.

_Coram's Field_

_No cause of death_

_Ritualistic_

_Please come_

GL

"So you really would like me to come then? Not just as a walking skull?" She asked Sherlock

"Of course, I'm not so shallow as to think I never need help" he smiled at her, then laughed to himself "anyway this is going to be fun".

When they got to the crime scene, Keridwyn was inexplicably excited. She had been to Sherlock's crime scenes before, but usually hiding in the shadows, this time she was going out in the sun, with the detective himself. As they walked towards Sergeant Donovan waiting at the police lines she had a fuzzy feeling deep inside, no wonder John loves this so much, she thought.

"Hello freak" Donovan welcomed

"Sergeant Donovan, how lovely to see you again, I see Anderson's wife is back"

"Who is that?" Sergeant Donovan spat pointing at Keridwyn.

"A colleague" Sherlock replied

"Another one?" She questioned as Sherlock walked past her, "your getting through them aren't you?"

"Lestrade" Sherlock greeted the older detective shaking his hand, "this is Keri, she's a friend of John's."

"Where is John?" Lestrade asked, looking Keridwyn up and down

"Working, so as long as you don't mind, Sherlock has brought me instead." Keridwyn gave him her most winning smile, and Sherlock thought he'd even spotted her eyelashes fluttering. Lestrade shrugged and showed them to the body.

"Will you be alright with the body, erm Keri?" Lestrade asked

"She has some experience, Lestrade, Keri is an expert in occult deaths" Sherlock lied expertly

"Oh God another weirdo" Anderson groaned, choosing that moment to appear "are we now going to hold a séance?"

"Shut up Anderson" Lestrade shouted, but now a crowd of coppers had formed around Keri, "You do look rather young, Keri."

"Yeah?" she replied smiling broadly "It's the voodoo!" the crowd erupted with laughter and the tension immediately dispersed.

The body was of a teenage boy, Lestrade was right no obvious cause of death, but a lot of random cut marks, and the body lying in a pentagram. As Sherlock started his vampire like prowling of the corpse, Keri took note of the rest of the scene. Reading the strange language plastered on the walls around the body. She attempted to get Sherlock's attention, but he was too busy with the boy's body. So she walked over to him, she was aware of Lestrade and Anderson's scrutiny so she concentrated on making footsteps. The noise made Sherlock aware of her, and he gave her a curious look, she in turn shook her head, trying to get through her information. Sherlock would never find a cause of death, or a murderer, this boy wasn't even human, in a few hours time his body would disintegrate, there would be a minor mortuary investigation into the bodies disappearance then it would be covered up.

Sherlock made a random series of observations to Lestrade, claiming some outrageous things about the body and the murderer, and Keri added the language around the body was Ogham, and a believable translation. Then they walked off towards Russell Square.

"Wait" Lestrade, shouted at them

"We've told you everything we know Lestrade, what else can you possibly want" Sherlock huffed

"I need some details for my report, Keri I'll need your full name" Lestrade pulled out a notepad, and Sherlock looked faintly worried

"Oh okay DI Lestrade" Keri started "My full name is Keridwyn Bellis Murray" Sherlock looked shocked, but was able to turn his expression into one of disinterest.

"Murray?" Lestrade asked, "No relation to Corporal William Murray?"

"Yes, he's my brother" Keri replied smiling

"Of course I understand, I've met you before haven't I? After the Moriarty case you visited John?" Keri nodded, "I met your brother once, how is he? Where is he now?"

"Back in Afghanistan, he's 9months into an 18month tour" she sounded sad, and Sherlock looked at her.

"Well remember me to him, I hope to see you again Miss Murray" Lestrade finished, walking away.

"I don't really understand what just happened" Sherlock admitted when they got into the taxi.

"The boy he was a demon, the Ogham was written to summon him, someone didn't know how to control him, and sadly he died" Keri told him, and Sherlock nodded, he's guessed something like that.

"I actually meant then with Lestrade" he clarified

"Is this information you've deleted Sherlock, or do you genuinely not know who Corporal William Murray is?" Keri asked, when Sherlock looked at her blankly she continued "John was shot in Afghanistan, he was dying and his power attracted the nearest powerful practitioner, that was an orderly called Bill Murray. Bill found John was about to die, and that his power stemmed from the same family source as his own, luckily for John the Murray family hold a powerful tool, an artifact that can bring the dead back to life. So Bill cried out for his father to send aid, and his father send his servant to Afghanistan. William Murray's father is my owner, the servant was me, and the artifact, that ancient tool which saved John's life is Keridwyn's Cauldron."

**Again the cauldron is pretty well documented, although I'm not sure you can take water out of the cauldron and make it work the same. However HA it's my fic and Lucy's back at work so she can't make me change it!**

**Canon usage with Bill Murray.**

**Lucy can write in Ogham, I can't sadly. It's a Celtic runic script, it was all over our wedding literature, my family thought she was summoning demons lol.**

**Please Review**

**TBC**

**Jas xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Watching Sherlock re-runs and doing my washing has got in the way of this chapter slightly.**

**Hope it's OK**

**Please review**

**Jas xx**

"Mr Holmes I need to go home and make a report to my owner" Keridwyn informed Sherlock 10 minutes after they had returned to Baker Street. He had spent this time on John's laptop googling Keridwyn's cauldron, reading the legend, and to her surprise making notes.

"You're not a battle sprite you lied to me?" he asked, curious more than angry.

"Mr Holmes, Sherlock, I am over ten thousand years old, I have been many things in that time, and your information is coming from wikipedia. Demons like humans change their roles over time, they get more powerful, or less powerful, our life though longer than yours have similar ups and downs. I was hatched as a battle sprite, I gained power and grew stronger, I was mated had a family and yes I was once the owner of the Annwyn Cauldron. It has been passed on through my daughters family, as has my power, till I am little more than a battle sprite again." She finished by cocking her head to one side, challenging him to ask more.

"I want to come" Sherlock stated instead

"Where?" Keri asked

"To meet your family, yours and John's family. I want to meet them, say hello as it were." He smiled, knowing full well that she was going to relent "Anyway I was there at the scene today, I could tell them what we saw." Keri shrugged and Sherlock beamed grabbed his coat and got her to lead him downstairs again and into a cab.

When they arrived it took a moment for Sherlock's internal A-Z to kick in. Keri had given the driver an address in Beckton, and it was distractingly easy to tell they were yards from London City Airport. The building looked like an old pumping station, but at some point it had been converted into a private residence. Keri was out of the cab, and running up the path towards the main pump house doors, while Sherlock was still making his deductions, he was forced to pay for the cab, and followed at a more sedate pace.

For Sherlock it was easy to see what was going on in Keri's mind. To the family she had always been a teenage girl, a free spirit she ran up to the family home laughing and giggling like any other child would. When the door opened, a large man dressed all in black blocked it, he gave Sherlock a cold calculating look, which melted somewhat as Keri hugged him.

"Sherlock, meet my dear friend Darin" she called to him, "Darin I need to see Daddy Murray, please" she begged in a sickly voice to the man she had her arms round. He looked down clicked his teeth and kissed the top of her head.

"He's in his workshop little one" Darin told her, "go through he's been expecting you and your friend."

Matthew Murray stood in front of the burning firepit, his arms covered in iron bands, and his chest covered with a homemade smock shirt. He was in his early sixties, and with a long grey beard and hair. As Sherlock and Keri walked in he looked up and beamed, opening his arms to Keri, then holding out a hand to Sherlock.

"Mr Holmes, nice to meet you at last" his thick Northumbrian accent taking Sherlock by surprise.

"Mr Murray, I thought it was about time we met" Sherlock smiled back at the man, starting to search around the room, as Keri quickly filled Mr Murray in on the murder scene they had been too. Sherlock was not surprised that this was all old news to the man. "Tell me Mr Murray is it a psychic connection you use?"

"No, it's a magical connection, as de facto head of the family I can sense all the strands of our power, I can concentrate on a single strand, and see what's happening to them." Mr Murray explained. "I can for instance see that Dr Watson is attempting to charge his phone using magic, that he's bored during his lunch break, and he is getting constant texts from your brother asking for your whereabouts."

It had been an interesting afternoon, Sherlock had discovered far more about this 'family' than anyone had let on to him about. He now knew that they ran a successful protection racket, worked for the government on a mercenary basis, and that most of the known family members were soldiers or ex-soldiers. Keri was treated like the little sister she proclaimed she was to the world, Matthew Murray treated her like daughter, rather than the supernatural creature he knew her to be. When he'd questioned Keri about her appearance she'd told him battle sprites tend to have two appearances one that they show to the dying a non-threatening wraith look, she portrayed as a teenage girl, and their real demon form that they show to each other. Sherlock realized Matthew Murray hadn't seen that demon form since he'd enslaved her. There had been an interesting answer when he'd enquired about that.

"Matthew was a soldier, he was serving in the Gulf, and the oldest of my line so I was following him. During Operation Granby after Sir Peter De Billiere took over Matthew was sparking magic, he was traumatized by the operation, and suddenly he could see me. He spoke to me constantly asked me about the enemy, asked me to spy on them, begged for my help. Eventually people noticed, and Matthew was sent home, medical discharge and I out of guilt went with him. Of course he's so powerful, and had a young family then, a wife and kids. He had this plan to bring our family together, around the cauldron make us the most powerful family in the islands. He bought land in London, installed the cauldron and started calling the family forward. He needed me to stay though, he wanted my power and draw so he bound me to him, made me a slave. His wife treated me like a daughter, an extra child and that's the way we've stayed for 20 years."

"So why John, why choose him to send you too?" Sherlock asked

"Because Matthew will die one day, and the next powerful person, the one who will lead the family, the person to whom all this will go, is Dr Watson."

**Operation Granby details coming from my friend Darin who was there. **

**Hence his appearance as a heavy, lol!**

**TBC**

**Jas xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**All property is theft!**

**This one is just for me! **

**Jas xx**

When John got home from the clinic he was slightly concerned to discover that Sherlock wasn't home. He knew that Mycroft's security detail had lost him earlier in the day, but frankly that wasn't unusual. John sometimes wondered if he should volunteer to be one of Mycroft's men in black, he'd received top marks in his E&E at Sandhurst and he definitely thought he couldn't make a worse job of it. Sherlock's regular disappearances weren't really concerning to John, if he hadn't heard from in 24 hours he would start to get worried, but for now it was just an opportunity for some time alone.

He grabbed a shower, a long shower, a luxury rarely afforded in 221b, he changed into comfortable tracky bottoms and a baggy jumper, and sat down to watch some crud telly. Twenty-five minutes later he was aware his fingers were glowing. He knew it to be a side effect of the magic, when he was younger, and used magic daily he had moments when his whole body had glowed, the excess power pouring out of him. This was the same, earlier in the day he'd tried a small experiment with his mobile phone, it had been unsuccessful although partly because Mycroft had called him in the middle of it to complain about Sherlock's absence. The power he had invoked to play with the phone hadn't worn out, and now it was demanding his attention.

He thought about scrying for Sherlock, a nice simple spell that would wear out the excess magic and possibly get Mycroft off his back. Then he looked at the kitchen, at Sherlock's experiments and a whole different thought came to him. If Sherlock could experiment with dangerous thinks, cyanide injected into fruit, arsenic in the sugar bowl, and hydrochloric tea. Then he certainly could, just a few little things John thought, maybe some telekinesis or physical levitation. He was feeling slightly giddy, and ran to his bedroom, under the bed was a case his Grandmother had left him, he opened the oak box, checked the contents where all there, then with a slight giggle dragged it downstairs.

When Sherlock and Keri returned to Baker Street, Keri could sense the magic pulsing down the street. Normally John gave out an underlying static energy which she could sense all the time. Today that magic was treacle thick and smelt of sulfur. When she told Sherlock he looked at her oddly, obviously he couldn't sense the power, and asked her if it was something they needed to worry about. She wasn't sure, but she asked him to be on his guard. John was conducting vast amounts of magic, seemingly without direction, and without leaving Sherlock alone she couldn't investigate.

When they walked into the flat, Keri changed into her demon form. She couldn't believe that Sherlock couldn't see the bright magical lights flowing from under his door. However when Sherlock opened the flat door, even he without any magical sight or power could see that something major was going on.

John with the most peaceful look upon his face was standing on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. His magic was webbing across the room, and where it touched furniture or objects they glowed with power, and in the case of the sofa floated off the ground. Sherlock's long dead peace lily grew and flowered, withered and died and grew again as the waves of power hit it. The fire sparked in the grate, the kitchen hummed and buzzed of it's own accord, and the box at John's feet expelled it's contents repeatedly in answer to it's owners gentle hand movements.

"John?" Sherlock called, before Keri flashing between her two forms hushed him.

"Just watch Sherlock, this is what you wanted to understand wasn't it? This is John's true form; this is the power of magic in its raw experimental form. This is what we are, what do you think?"

"Beautiful, it's just beautiful!" Sherlock gasped "Does it? Is he being hurt by it?"

"No Sherlock, I'm fine how long have you been watching?" John called his voice hollow and distant

"A few minutes, what's all this for?" he asked his friend, looking up into his smiling face.

"I was experimenting, why should you have all the fun? Oh Sherlock it feels wonderful, come up here I'll show you!"

Without another word Sherlock climbed beside his friend on the coffee table, and as soon as John took his hand he was engulfed in the bright magical light. He felt like the whole world was channeled through them, and reaching out towards his skull on the mantelpiece was delighted as it flew towards him and he caught it. He looked at John, who was laughing hysterically, and for no other reason than the glorious feelings running through his body, Sherlock started laughing as well.

It was some hours later that the exhausted pair, collapsed in their chairs spoke to each other again. They had played with levitation, reanimation and transfiguration for longer than either of them knew. Eventually however fatigue had set in, and they had taken their seats, the remains of John's magic crackling and fizzing around them like fireworks. Keri with little else to do chased these screaming serpents of power, attempting to catch them in her claws.

"I think I'm going to enjoy this, John" Sherlock announced finally

"What?" John asked a little dazed

"Your experimenting" Sherlock answered "If your going to control the whole family someday we'll have to keep practicing" John spluttered and looked at his friend as if he'd gone mad.

"What are you talking about Sherlock?" he asked.

"You John, are the heir to Keri's power, one day" he gave a wide sweep with his hand "all this will be yours."

"KERIDWYN?" John yelled at the top of his voice.

**Harry Potter refs**

**Silliness**

**And a slight nod to Slash fics!**

**Love ya all**

**Pls Review**

**Jas xx**


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